Guest Posted August 23, 2006 Posted August 23, 2006 In september we will have 38 children in our reception unit. Last year we did 6 focus activities a week. We also changed reading books once a week and heard sounds and readers once a week. 3 sessions were taken from the classroom to use in the hall (this was made compulsory by the head) and 1 afternoon was spent in the ICT suite. We also had free flow outdoor play. Last year we found that so much was being left unfiished as we were cramming too much into the week. This year we are considering doing the following to allow more time for observation. Week 1 Doing 3 focus activities i.e Lit, KUOW, Physical Observation at activites which are not focus areas i.e Numeracy, PSE, Creative Outdoor play Readers Hall sessions ICT Week 2 Doing 3 focus activities i.e Numeracy, PSE, Creative Observation at activities which are not focus areas i.e Lit, KUOW, Physical Outdoor play Readers Hall sessions ICT We are thinking of working like this as it gives us a lot more time - before we felt we were rushing through activities and if children did not achieve there was little time to go over things and there was not time to extend learning. Can i please have your opinions on this? What do you think OFSTED's will think?
AnonyMouse_79 Posted August 23, 2006 Posted August 23, 2006 hi lola! I dont see why this shouldnt be ok but am not sure entirely! Sorry. You will need to run it past your head or advisors and trial it and see if it works for you, perhaps?
AnonyMouse_73 Posted August 23, 2006 Posted August 23, 2006 Hi Lola. You dont say how many staff you have but I presume 3? I think the best thing ti do is try it out and see. I know we dont hear readers every week there just isnt time, and we do just one hall PE session with the whole class. I would just ask a coiple fo questions if I may. If week one is focus literayt, then are you doing any numeracy that week that is focussed? What whole class activities are you doing if any eg jolly phonics or mental maths type activities? I think OFSTED may have soemthng to say if it looks like you only do a focus activity once a fortnight in each area so can you enlighten me some more? (or maybe not..I am due any day to enjoy that expereicne again) Also what happens wshen one group goes for PE? This may be a god time to do focus activities with smaller group maybe? I do think you are right to not overload too much, so you can have more time for obervations, I want to do that too. What do others think?
Guest Posted August 23, 2006 Posted August 23, 2006 Thanks for replies so far guys Mundia- We have 3 staff We would continue to do daily literacy and numeracy inputs. There would also be driected activities out each week including lit and num but alternate lit and num focus i.e week 1 lit focus week 2 num focus. We go to P.E as one class and the spare member of staff pulls children out for reinforcment activities.
AnonyMouse_73 Posted August 23, 2006 Posted August 23, 2006 wow thast alot of childen for PE, we find it hard with 30! Then it sounds fine, give it a try, check your Head is OK about it then agree to review at half term or Christmass and make chancges accordingly. Let us know how it goes
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